The Pros And Cons Of African American History And Culture

African American culture is unique in many ways, one of which is that it may be the most recently formed and acknowledged culture. Histories and cultures of races and ethnicities are passed down through generations, but African American culture is vastly different because of the interruption of their root culture, African culture, through the Transatlantic Slave Trade, where “Approximately five million enslaved Africans were disembarked in the Americas between 1776 and 1867,” (Marques, 2016:11). Understanding African American history and culture is crucial in order to become conscious of the systematic disadvantages that have been and continue to be placed against Black individuals, causing a ripple effect that continuously makes it harder

This is true with the Plessy v. Ferguson supreme court case in 1896, which ruled the segregation of Black individuals was not unconstitutional. Similarly, in 1898 the Williams v. Mississippi supreme court case decided literacy tests, the poll tax, disenfranchisement clauses, and the grandfather clause were all protected under the Constitution. These legal tools were used to limit African Americans' ability to vote and be politically valued, but the discontent displayed by African American communities would grow and bring about movements to support Black people’s rights. The most significant of the movements, The Civil Rights Movement became “...a major force in Black America with the civil disorders of 1965 through 1968,” (2019: Chapter 7, section 4). The Civil Rights Movement is the most known of these movements because of its success in improving social, political, and economic equality for African American lives. The movement established many subgroups and associations that supported the movement by organizing riots and boycotts. One example of this is the Montgomery Improvement Association, which led the Montgomery Bus Boycott that desegregated buses within Alabama under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. However, this boycott would not have been possible without the arrest of Rosa Parks, a Black woman, for refusing to give up her seat to a White man on a segregated bus. Her individual protest sparked a much larger event that began the widespread desegregation of life in the United States. The Brown v. Board of Education supreme court case of 1954 desegregated public schools by ruling it is unconstitutional to separate people by race. Ultimately, the Civil Rights Movement’s many campaigns would culminate in “The enactment of The Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964…” which “...was hailed as a major victory…” (2019: Chapter 7, section 4). This act protects all people from discrimination based on race,